Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese Princess and Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1662, this loyal and pious young Princess arrived at the salacious Court of King Charles II as his bride. Her marriage to the King was part of a military alliance between Portugal and England. But she was quite unprepared for the debauchery and immoral behaviour of the King and many of his courtiers.

During her 25 years as Queen Consort she had to put up with a string of Charles' mistresses some of whom resorted to sexual exploitation, manipulation and power politics often to the detriment of Catharine.

This is the story of her time as Queen Consort and, afterwards how she strengthened still further the relationship between Britain and Portugal which has continued, uninterrupted, to this day.

This video forms part of the History Briefs series from "Great Stories from the Past" which is designed to provide a quick yet reasonably detailed overview of famous people and renowned events in history.